Those five weeks between when we found out he was sick and when he died exist outside of time. They accordion out behind me as one infinitely long moment and then compress back to simply Before George and After George, the contents reduced to the width of a single piece of paper. I alternate between being surrounded by memories, smells, tastes which bring me back to those weeks and real disbelief that The Horrible Thing actually happened at all.

The more time that passes the more I seem to have difficulty grasping the core of what his death has really meant. I tell myself that I can't regret what happened in the past because my present is filled with love for my daughter, who in a very honest sense only exists because her brother doesn't. I fortify myself against the reality of his death rationalization by rationalization. I am a master at trying to soften the edges of his death.

Then March comes around the corner, always unexpectedly, to knock the breath out of me. The ether of emotions that normally fog my brain crystalize and it is all suddenly so simple again. I gave birth to a baby in the cold sterility of a surgical suite. I held his small sick and dying body, kissed his head, whispering to him I loved him and that I wished he could stay. Then I simply waited for his tired heart to stop its battle to keep beating. In March I can distill all the regrets and justifications and apologetics that I conjure up during the other eleven months of the year into a simple elixer of love and heartbreak.

I am a mother to two children. One who lives and thrives: a marvel in front of my eyes. The other dead and gone: a shadow in the periphery of my vision. But for a few weeks in March, when the world around me is waking up from its wintry slumber, that shadow feels a bit more substantive. Almost as if I can reach out and hold him again, kiss his head, whisper him I love him, and that I wish he could have stayed.

Do you rationalize the death of your baby to ease your pain? When the anniversary of the death of your child approaches does it change your perspective on the past or make you feel closer to the one you lost? How do you feel (or think you will feel) about milestones or anniversaries? Are they intensely personal events or do you feel the need to share those important dates with people in your life?

glow in the woods

Bereaved parents of lost babies and potential of all kinds: come here to share the technicolour, the vividness, the despair, the heart-broken-open, the compassion, and the other side of getting through this mess called grief.

Parents of lost babies and potential of all kinds: come here to share the technicolour, the vividness, the despair, the heart-broken-open, the compassion we learn for others, having been through this mess — and see it reflected back at you, acknowledged and understood.